Sirs and Madams,
Father has two children—a son and a daughter. In 1990, the father acquired 5 acres of land. In 1991, he secretly registered a will in favor of his son without informing his daughter. The registered WILL did not specify any particulars of the properties but generally stated: "I (the father) own both self-acquired (suya rajithaa) and ancestral (pithur rajithaa) properties in the village of Kondamurutti, and I bequeath all my properties, whatever I have now and whatever I may acquire in the future, to you, my son."
At the time the WILL was registered in 1991, the father’s own father (the grandfather) was still alive. The grandfather owned 5 acres of self-acquired land, purchased in 1976, in his name. When the grandfather passed away in 1996 without leaving a will or gifting his properties (intestate), the father, as the only son, transferred all of his father’s (the grandfather’s) properties to his own name.
The father passed away in March 2024, and now the son is trying to transfer all the properties, including those inherited from the grandfather, to his name based on the 1991 WILL. The daughter is challenging the WILL, arguing that the registered WILL is invalid for the grandfather's properties because the father did not possess those properties when he made the WILL in 1991 for his son and only acquired them in 1996 after the grandfather’s death. However, she is not contesting the father's right to bequeath his self-acquired property to the son. She argues that the WILL is only valid for the properties the father owned in 1991 but not for those he acquired from the grandfather in 1996. She is asking for her share of her grandfather's 5 acres of land. Son refuses to accept the daughter's claim, saying that the father had written the WILL for the properties he may acquire in the future.
There are no documents from the father to his son other than the WILL written in 1991.
- Is the daughter’s claim legally valid?
- What is the scope of the will regarding the grandfather's property that the father acquired in 1996, after registering the will in 1991?
